The Leaving Certificate Applied is a two-year Leaving Certificate available to students who wish to follow a practical programme with a strong vocational emphasis. It is one of three Leaving Certificate options offered by the Department of Education and Science.

The Leaving Certificate Applied is a distinct, self-contained two-year programme aimed at preparing students for adult and working life. The programme puts an emphasis on forms of achievement and excellence, which the established Leaving Certificate has not recognised in the past.

The Leaving Certificate Applied was introduced to recognise the talents of all students and provide opportunities for development in terms of responsibility, self-esteem and self-knowledge. It is an innovative programme in the way students learn, in what they learn and in the way their achievements are assessed

The Leaving Certificate Applied is intended to meet the needs of those students who are not adequately catered for by other Leaving Certificate programmes or who choose not to opt for such programmes.

The advantage of Leaving Certificate Applied is that it focuses on the talents of each individual student and helps students apply what they learn in the real world. The two-year programme consists of four half-year blocks called Sessions and achievements are credited in each of these Sessions.

Latest School News

The students in the all-girls secondary school, St Joseph’s in Stanhope Street, Dublin developed clever new ideas on how to bring more light and space into their dark, crowded stairways and corridors. “I really enjoyed working with other students and learning about people’s different perspectives, as well as being able to see how we can make a practical change in our school,” says Monika Janas, one of the TY students in St Joseph’s.

Featured in the Irish Times 4th March 2014

The Stanhope Street Girls' Choir was in DIT recently to visit the Conservatory of Music and Drama. Twenty girls from the choir were accompanied by their Director P.J. Gargan and the school Principal Maedhbh Daltún. The Stanhope Street students shared the stage with members of the DIT Conservatory of Music & Drama as they prepared for thier performance of 'A Night at the Opera' featuring scenes from Lehár's The Merry Widow and Puccini's La Boheme

The visit was a follow up to the festival of Carols that took place in Aughrim St church on Tuesday 10th Dec 2013 when the Stanhope St. Girls Choir opened the evening with a number of carols including their recently recorded 'anti-bullying' song entitled Hold Your Head Up